I Am Free Again It Is Time to Conquer

April 23, 2022 Post a Comment

I dislike freeways. Unless it's an Interstate freeway with no other vehicles around, with the windows rolled down, the music blasting, and me singing along in a very off-key voice at the top of my lungs, I'd be perfectly happy to never run across another freeway again as long as I live. Believe information technology or non, my attitude nigh freeways has actually improved – a lot – over the last few years.

I know I merely said I dislike freeways. Only I used to hate them. Hate. Them.

They were the bane of my being. I lived with an intense, daily dread of freeways and nervously counted the hours until I would have to face one again. I lived in the Bay Area in California at the time, and avoiding freeways was nigh impossible, especially considering I was a single dad raising two kids on my own. Try raising children in the Bay Area without driving on a pike. I suppose it tin be washed, but y'all'd have petty time to accomplish anything else.

I was suffering from state highway phobia. A phobia is defined as a pervasive, irrational fear of a situation or object. The phobia sufferer's fear is and then intense, he or she will go to farthermost lengths to avoid said object or situation. Approximately 10% of the United states population lives with at least one phobia, and that estimate is probably low.

Some phobias are easier to live with than others. If yous have an irrational fear of clowns (coulrophobia) say, you can manage that phobia fairly easily. Because, how often does the average person come into contact with clowns, actually? Not very often. But as a person living in a densely populated urban area continued past freeways, avoiding the source of my phobia wasn't really an option for me. I had to learn how to cope with my fears.

I'll talk nearly how I did that a lilliputian afterwards on. Merely for now, allow'south have a look at the top 10 things nobody tells you most living with freeway phobia. I wish someone had told me these things. Information technology might have prompted me to get assistance for my phobia much sooner than I did.

Top 10 Things Nobody Tells Y'all Virtually Throughway Phobia

It'south a widespread trouble that no 1 talks about – An estimated twoscore meg American adults accept an anxiety disorder. Driving anxiety is a huge problem for millions of people, notwithstanding at that place's very little information bachelor that'southward reliable. My piece of work with sufferers of driving anxiety over the years has taught me that fearfulness of pike driving is the number i upshot anxious drivers face.
It makes information technology hard to go places – Freeways are an unavoidable part of the driving experience for many people. Endeavor living in about any large urban area without driving on freeways. It's hard, if not downright incommunicable, to do.
It eats into your time – Freeways are oft the fastest route between point A and point B. That's kind of the whole indicate of freeways. Driving secondary roads with more finish signs and traffic lights can slow your frontwards progress to a crawl. Many people simply don't have the time non to accept the freeway.
Most people don't get what you're so scared of – Granted, no 1 likes pike driving, especially in heavy traffic. Only near people accept it as a necessary, admitting annoying, function of daily living. Having panic attacks because of the expressway is non something well-nigh people know how to relate to.
Freeway phobia is difficult on your relationships – The limited mobility that tends to accompany freeway phobia can severely limit your ability to participate in social gatherings and maintain a healthy social life.
It tin can make other feet bug worse – People with driving feet commonly struggle with other anxiety disorders , like social anxiety or panic attacks. Freeway phobia tin exacerbate these other issues and make them worse.
You live in abiding dread – You lot remember forward to the times you'll have to confront the freeway with dread. You obsess over it, and the idea of information technology hangs over you like a nighttime cloud.
You fearfulness having a panic attack on the thruway – One of the biggest fears people have on the freeway is that they'll have a panic attack and either hurt or kill someone. This very rarely happens, simply the anticipation of a panic assail makes many avoid the throughway altogether.
Freeway phobia tin exist difficult to treat – Successful handling requires you to face your fears and do at least some freeway driving. There is no overnight cure for freeway phobia. It takes work and commitment.
It gets worse the longer it goes untreated – Similar all phobias, the longer freeway phobia goes untreated, the worse it gets, which makes treating it successfully that much harder.

Superlative Treatment Options for Freeway Phobia

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is, expressway phobia is highly treatable. I myself have generally overcome my own fear of the superhighway. I yet don't like it, but I don't avoid it either.

The bad news is, there's actually no style to overcome pike phobia except by continuing to bulldoze on freeways. Phobias are merely defeated by facing them and taking away their power over your mind.

Fortunately, you don't have to face your superhighway phobia solitary. At that place are several effective handling options that are widely available, including:

Exposure Therapy – The principal fear with freeways is becoming trapped with no way out and no manner to become help. Freeway phobia is actually a manifestation of agoraphobia. Exposure therapy ways just what it sounds like it means. With the help of a therapist, you gradually increase your fourth dimension on the freeway, exposing yourself to your fears until they subside. Y'all'll observe that you won't, in fact, lose control or go trapped with no way out.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – CBT helps you place distortions in your thinking nearly pike driving. Phobias are generally irrational in nature. CBT helps y'all identify irrational thinking and provides concrete steps to correct information technology.
Take a Defensive Driving Grade – There are many books, DVDs, and online courses that teach defensive driving to ameliorate your driving skills. Search Amazon for ideas. You tin can also contact your local DMV for suggestions about finding the right driving course for you.
Hire a Driving Omnibus – If a self-help driving course isn't enough, you may need an experienced driving instructor to really be in the auto with y'all to conquer your freeway phobia. Here's an inspiring story almost a woman who did just that.

Freeway phobia can severely restrict your life. Only it is treatable. I treated mine with a combination of meditation, hypnosis, and CBT. I even adult a course for driving anxiety called Driving Peace to aid teach other people with freeway phobia how to face their fears and take back command of their lives. And I'thou nobody special. If I tin do it, anyone can.
If you or someone you know experiences mental wellness issues, it is important to seek help from a qualified professional. Our Resource Specialist can help y'all detect expert mental health resources to recover in your customs. Contact us at present for more information on this free service to our users.

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Author Bio: Greg Weber is the creator of Driving Peace, an piece of cake-to-use program of very simple techniques to terminate driving feet, also known as driving phobia and fright of driving.

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